The Timeline Splits

The Hero of Time

Ocarina of Time

Perhaps the most famous and beloved Link of all time is The Hero of Time. This Link is the hero who battled through past and present in order to save Hyrule from the Gerudo King Ganondorf (and whose actions irreparably split the Zelda timeline from here on out).

The existence of the Triforce and its unending powers were only known to a select few members of the Hylian royal family. But then there came a time when its existence became known to all of the tribes of the world, which became a huge problem for the kingdom. Each tribe waged war against each other; Zora against Goron, Hylian against Gerudo, all to take control of the sacred trinket. Amidst this war, a young mother escaped to Kokiri Forest with her baby boy in arms. Before succumbing to her wounds, she pleaded with the people of the forest to take her son and hide him from the horrors of the Hyrulean Civil War.

This child would grow up to be Link, the hero who opened the entrance to the Sacred Realm with the help of his fairy Navi, as well as used the ocarina of time to retrieve The Master Sword for the first time since The Hero of the Goddess forged it to vanquish Demise. However, pulling the sword out inadvertently put Link to sleep for seven years. With access to the Sacred Realm open to all, Ganondorf used this opportunity to venture within, only to find the Triforce hiding inside in all of its glory. Being of an unbalanced soul, the Triforce split into three pieces when Ganondorf tried to greedily take the entire treasure for himself. The Triforce of Power remained with him, but The Triforce of Courage went to the boy who had just unsheathed the blade of evil’s bane.

Not knowing that the courage piece went to Link, Ganondorf would spend the next seven years searching for the rest of the Triforce, all while using his own piece to conquer the kingdom of Hyrule for himself and his race of Gerudo bandits. Link, seven years older, would wake up and venture throughout Hyrule, releasing the seven sages from their bondage to the Gerudo King, allowing him to break into Ganon’s Tower.

Ganondorf, losing in battle to the newly awakened Link, used his Triforce of Power to transform himself into the King of Evil, Ganon. But with the help of Zelda, holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, the duo sealed Ganondorf within the Sacred Realm and returned peace to the kingdom of Hyrule.

Zelda, realizing that Link sacrificed his entire childhood to save the kingdom, sent him back into time so he could relive his lost years. Link was a child once again, but Ganondorf remained alive and well. Journeying to Hyrule castle, Link meets with a young Princess Zelda and tells her of his adventure through time and how Ganondorf would lay waste to the kingdom. With Link’s account confirming her suspicions, Zelda has the King imprison Ganondorf as well as the entire Gerudo race.

Majora’s Mask

But this would not be the end of The Hero of Time’s journey, Link would find himself in a foreign new land while searching for Navi in the Lost Woods. Termina was a strange place, but even stranger was that The Skull Kid, who he met during his adventure in Hyrule, had appeared wearing a mask of immense power. Skull Kid, instead of pulling his usually pranks and tricks, was up to a more sinister plot. Almost as if the mask itself controlled The Skull Kid for its own demented purposes. Link found out that this mask was indeed evil, as stated by the Happy Mask Salesman who had somehow ended up in Termina along with him.

Link would traverse this foreign land, using various magical masks, to stop the evil Majora’s Mask, who had summoned the Moon down from the sky to strike down on the world within three days. After awakening the Four Giants, Link defeats Majora’s Mask and frees the people of Termina as well as The Skull Kid from a most terrible fate.

Twilight Princess

It is not known if The Hero of Time ever made it back to Hyrule, but it is known that he never reunited with his dear friend Navi. It is stated that those who enter the Lost Woods without a fairy are doomed to become a stalfos. One hundred years later, The Hero of Time, now a skeleton warrior known as The Hero’s Shade, trains The Hero Chosen by the Gods as he prepares himself for defending Hyrule against Ganondorf once again.

A sad fate for Hyrule’s most renowned hero. A young man who gave everything to live up to his destiny and defend his kingdom had ended up losing his friend, his life, and met with a terrible fate in the return of a great evil he thought he vanquished forever. He lives as a shade of his former self, in hopes that he could one day amend the mistakes of a life that ended in regret.

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